A report from Times of India has emerged regarding how India’s World Cup-winning skipper MS Dhoni had helped the pair of Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant in coming out of their rut in recent times.
Notably, both Hardik and Rishabh struggled for big hits and quick runs in the IPL and T20 internationals before IPL 2022 started.
MS Dhoni had suggested Hardik and Pant to use curved bats
Famous cricket reporter on Twitter @CricCrazyJohns recently confirmed that CSK captain MS Dhoni had advised Hardik Pandya and Pant to try round-bottomed bats to improve their T20 game.
Pandya Jr. was finding it hard to hit big from ball one before the 2022 IPL began and was even out of the Indian side due to his subpar batting form. During the break before IPL 2022, the all-rounder worked on his batting technique as well as the shape of his bat as told by MS.
Paras Anand, the managing director of cricket equipment company SG (Sanspareils Greenlands) was reported as saying by TOI: “If one shaves the bottom and makes it round, the bat has a thicker base and has more meat at the bottom”.
He also said, “It was Dhoni who had first started using this kind of bat before the 2019 World Cup. Now these (other) Indian players have started asking for this kind of bat”.
Even if the ball isn’t perfectly middled by the sloggers, a bat curved at the bottom ensures enough power on the shot. The difference was there to see as following the tip from MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya (in particular) cleared the ropes much better in IPL 2022 and T20 cricket after that.
Test sensation wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant –who has been off-color in his T20I career– is still adapting to the change in the shape of his bat.
Bats that are curved or rounded at the bottom tend to allow batsmen to maneuver the field much better and hit the ball to all parts of the ground.
Standard bats, however, are not as flexible as these, claims the managing director of SG –the brand that manufactures bats for both Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya.
Hardik Pandya has achieved enviable success as a finisher in the last year or so and for that, he has MS Dhoni to thank (partially). Pant on the other hand hasn’t done too well but he too should convert his red-ball menace to T20Is and ODIs soon enough.